Do you want a coach with job security? A team that annually dominates the ACC? A program always ranked near the top of the polls? Good team chemistry? An offense that successfully combines screens and movement instead of just one player twirling his finger, yelling "Motion!" and watching his teammates do anything but move? Do you want a team that, for the love of God, plays defense???
Fear not, Wahoo Nation, such a thing does exist in this University's athletic department. The Virginia men's lacrosse team packs an incredible punch year in and year out. Excuse me, I meant the Defending National Champion Virginia men's lacrosse team.
Last Thursday's first scrimmage of the season, kicking off the team's title defense, could not have been a better cure for the depression-induced hangover of the men's basketball team's last-second loss to Maryland last Wednesday. All right, it wasn't a perfect scenario because of the intense cold and freezing rain which, I swear, froze my kneecaps in a locked position after sitting idle for the first half. Yes, I'm from Massachusetts, and even I thought it was cold.
Aside from that, however, seeing the lacrosse team gave me, ironically enough, a very warm feeling that soothed my sports sensibilities. It was with pride that I welcomed reigning national champions back to their home turf in Charlottesville. Similarly exhilarating was seeing this Cavalier team follow their shots and hustle after rebounds.
In the shadow of "The Pit of Despair," formerly known as University Hall, Cavalier lacrosse came out firing on the Turf Field Thursday evening, notching the first few tallies of the game. The inclement weather kept the crowd's adulation to a minimum, but the emphatic point remains the same -- this team is exciting to watch.
Coach Dom Starsia, who has led Virginia to 11 postseason appearances in his 11 years at the helm of the program, understands what fans want to see.
"When you set aside all the bells and whistles of sports, I've always felt that people want to come out and watch a successful team," Starsia said. "We're one of the top programs in the country playing all the best teams."
As is the case every year, the Cavaliers play the nation's top schedule that includes regular season contests against seven of the nation's other top-10 teams (according to "Face-Off Yearbook") and a scrimmage this Sunday against an eighth.
"We play the most exciting schedule in the country," Starsia said. "In Charlottesville this year, you'll get to see Princeton, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Duke and hopefully two rounds of the NCAA tournament. You have [the hometown] team ranked one or two in every poll."
Surely the early season scrimmages -- last weekend against Navy and Hampden Sydney and this weekend against Georgetown -- aren't the most thrilling sources of competition to anyone but the most ardent lacrosse fan. These games resemble youth rec leagues in that everyone plays and they don't even keep score. Admittedly, with the size, speed and skill of these athletes, it's more like youth lacrosse on steroids, but I trust you get my drift.
Fans can come see glimpses of Virginia's star power Sunday and maybe even more, as gritty goalkeeper Tillman Johnson stayed in net for the entirety of the Navy scrimmage.
"I love this time of year," Starsia said. "We're still undefeated. Everyone thinks they're a starter. In the office, we're not overrun with anxiety. That's a luxury that's about to end, and we'll be sad when this week is over."
After the final scrimmage Sunday, Virginia eases into their regular season schedule with games at Drexel, Air Force and Denver. But when they return to Klöckner, the Cavaliers will play host consecutively to perennial powerhouses Syracuse and Princeton as the first two tilts in their seven-game stretch entirely against top-10 teams. In that respect, it's even more stacked than ACC basketball.
All that is nice, but most importantly Virginia is poised to repeat as national champions. Just don't tell that to Starsia.
"We try not to talk about it in terms of a title defense," he said. "We're not the same team as we were last year. We try to think with more proactive language. We're trying to do what no Virginia team has ever done, and that's win consecutive championships."
The Cavaliers return the nation's best attack unit in John Christmas, Joe Yevoli and Matt Ward and indisputably the game's best goaltender in Johnson, whose spectacular and clutch play in the NCAA tournament carried Virginia to the promised land. Though the defense returns its best player in first-team All-American Brett Hughes, he will be joined by two new starters, and the midfield will be almost entirely reinvented. A.J. Shannon and Tewaarton Trophy winner Chris Rotelli both graduated and signed with professional squads, and last year's ACC Tournament MVP Billy Glading, out of lacrosse eligibility, jumped sports to play a year of basketball. Billy, I send my condolences for abandoning the seaworthy ship in favor of the sinking one.
I didn't know a whole lot about the intricacies of the sport of lacrosse before coming to U.Va., but I certainly could recognize a winning program and immediately became a convert. It is a great time to be a Virginia fan. A Virginia lacrosse fan, that is.
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